The invention relates to portable work-supporting or object-supporting devices in general, and in particular to sawhorses of the type for supporting lengthy objects to be worked on, which sawhorse can be folded up or knocked down for compact storage or easy transportation.
Sawhorses, sawbucks and the like are generally used for various purposes. They are most widely used in the carpentry and construction fields and in the home and in businesses to provide temporary supports for various materials and supplies, and in the making of scaffolds or shelf supports by the simple expedient of laying boards or planks across two or more of them. They are widely used as barricades on highways and parking areas and in crowd control. They are frequently used in temporary locations so that easy portability, which is important in such situations, is achieved. In most instances, they are stored between periods of use and it is thus important that they be capable of easy assembly or disassembly so that they can be stored compactly. They should also be made of resilient material that can withstand repeated blows or impacts and be resistant to splintering and corrosion.
Sawhorses consisting of a horizontal beam to which two pairs of diverging wooden legs are nailed or fixed have been widely used in the past. Such sawhorses cannot be easily knocked down. Sawhorses that can be knocked down have been made in which the legs are attached to the horizontal beams by means of bolts, screws, clamps or special brackets. These can be taken apart, but not easily and the clamps, bolts or screws that hold the sawhorses together were frequently lost or misplaced. Sawhorses of this character have been made of wood, which is subject to splintering, warping and rotting, and of metal, which may rust and corrode and otherwise require protective coating. The necessity of securing parts of the sawhorse together by separate screws, bolts, or clamps makes them inconvenient to assemble or disassemble and increases the liklihood of misplacing a critical part when assembly is desired. Also, conventional sawhorses are only capable of providing one work height. If the worker desires to raise work height, material must be placed under the legs of the sawhorse, or longer legs must be cut. If lower work position is desired, shorter legs must be cut.
Therefore, there is a need in this art for a sawhorse that can be easily assembled or collapsed, without requiring separate clamps, bolts or screws that can be misplaced, that is materially durable, easy to store, and capable of providing different work heights without altering the material of the sawhorse. The present invention provides for each of these needs.